Quilts

Abstract

Across time and culture, women connect generations through traditions. Women often bequeath family mementos to succeeding women. Quilts made by women commemorate, illustrate, or express important events. While these items have economic value, their primary worth is in the connections they make within families. Quilts are frequently passed on in matrilineal gifts and bequests. Their value is in the familial networks and reflects a moral economy that embraces matrilineal norms and values. As a nearly exclusively female artistic expression, the meanings embedded in quilts reflect knowledge across time. This article reviews the historical significance of quilts and analyzes the matrilineal connections in quilts in multicultural contexts.